What Would Busch Buyout Mean To You?

If Belgian-based beer company InBev succeeds in purchasing Anheuser-Busch, there will be consequences for the company's James City County brewery and theme park.

In announcing its offer this week, InBev immediately said it wouldn't close any Busch breweries - but it didn't say a word about the company's theme parks. However, InBev did hint that it would sell "noncore assets." Analysts think that includes the Anheuser-Busch theme parks and a packaging business.

InBev said it "does not expect any significant job losses" if the merger went through. The James City plant has about 872 employees, with an annual payroll of almost $84 million. Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Water Country USA have about 200 full-time employees and up to 6,400 total workers, including seasonal help, during the peak tourism season.

The $46.3 billion deal would be financed by a combination of InBev stock, $40 billion of debt and "divestitures of noncore assets." Nina Devlin, a U.S. spokeswoman for InBev, wouldn't say what the company considers noncore or divulge InBev's plans for the parks.

"It's too premature in the process to talk about those plans," Devlin said.

A detailed Web site describing the proposed deal has been set up by InBev at www.globalbeerleader.com. It describes the potential effect on the beer company's employees, distributors, communities, investors and consumers - but it doesn't mention the parks.

The sale of the parks could bring various changes. The Anheuser-Busch products, logo and even signature Clydesdales are longtime icons at Busch Gardens. Despite its European theme, the park has been known to tout its patriotism, giving perks like free passes to military families.

Busch has used the park to advertise its brand, including a campaign two years ago where it bragged about its American ownership. That was held up as a stark contrast to its largest rival SAB Miller, which is owned by a South African company, and Canadian-owned Coors.

Miller and Coors recently entered a joint venture to take on Busch, and some analysts think that the new undertaking would benefit from the InBev offer. Besides distracting Busch as its competitors join forces, any InBev-imposed marketing cuts could lead to a loss of market share, Credit Suisse analyst Carlos Laboy said in a report.

Laboy also said there could be substantial effect on Busch beer distributors nationwide, which are often family-owned local businesses in each market. Busch has a large number of distributors that get rewarded for primarily - even exclusively - working with Busch, but InBev might not like the big distributor payments with that system.

InBev said it worked now with many of the Budweiser distributors to sell InBev's signature Stella Artois, Beck's and Bass brands.

Busch Gardens Williamsburg is part of a family of Busch-owned parks folded into a subsidiary called Busch Entertainment Corp. It includes 10 parks and brands such as SeaWorld and Sesame Place. The changes that any new owner might bring to the parks might not be more than cosmetic, if a buyer thinks the company is well-run and profitable enough.

The Busch name itself is in play. InBev has said the combined company would be based in St. Louis and have some type of name that will evoke "Anheuser-Busch's heritage."

But if Anheuser-Busch doesn't own the theme park anymore, would it still be called Busch Gardens?